


(settle down with me) and i’ll be your safety

by Bre



Series: The Artie Chronicles [3]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: (sort of), 6+1 Fic, Alternate Universe, Dogs, Domestic Fluff, Established Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak, F/M, Family Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Literal Sleeping Together, Married Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak, POV Alternating, Service Dogs, Time Skips, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, sleeping, the rating is for some mild innuendo, this is just a bunch of fluff okay that's all this is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-04-14
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:14:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23650675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bre/pseuds/Bre
Summary: Six times Oliver and Felicity fall asleep with Artie, and one time they catch her sleeping.
Relationships: Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak
Series: The Artie Chronicles [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1633864
Comments: 73
Kudos: 238





	(settle down with me) and i’ll be your safety

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Kiss Me by Ed Sheeran. This was written for the Fic for Food Drive I’m taking part in with Janis - check out the details [here](https://twitter.com/so_caffeinated/status/1245407954523701248), and please consider donating! 
> 
> The donor wanted another ficlet in this series - I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> This is unbeta'd - all mistakes are mine.

The bed jostled.

Felicity frowned and looked up from the book she was reading on her phone. 

Another jostle, and then a whine. 

The soft glow coming from the little lamp on her nightstand cast just enough light for her to see Artie and Oliver when she glanced over her shoulder at where they slept behind her.

Was he having another nightmare? 

They had become fewer and farther between over the last months since they’d started sharing a bed every night, but they were still there. Some nights she or Artie could pull him back to reality. But sometimes there wasn’t anything they could do. It was a matter of riding it out, coaxing him from the hellish landscape he got lost in, trying to ground him without making it worse.

Heart heavy, Felicity shuffled onto her back to get a better look.

It wasn’t Oliver.

Artie’s little body jerked where she laid tucked up against Oliver’s chest. Her paws twitched, her eyes roving every which way under her closed lids. Her lips trembled, the edges coming up in breathy whimpers, her nose quivering.

Felicity’s chest clenched at the sight, her heart twisting, and she reached out to soothe her out of whatever she was dreaming.

Oliver beat her to it.

He shifted around the puppy, his brow furrowing in his sleep as he reacted to the disturbances. 

Artemis didn’t respond to him like she normally would, too lost in the visions she saw in her sleep. Her paws started moving more, almost like she was running. It was so cute, but Felicity couldn’t help but wonder if it was a bad dream. How could she know? That concern became even more evident when a stressed little yelp escaped the pitbull. 

Her boyfriend was of the same mind, apparently, because he curled around Artie and slid his hand over her head and then down her side in a soothing caress.

Artie settled slightly, but not quite enough, not yet. 

Never waking, Oliver kept stroking her soft fur, and Felicity swore she heard the softest little, “Shh,” on his lips, even though his mouth didn’t move.

It took a moment, but Artie finally started calming under his lazy strokes. Her paws stopped twitching, her body didn’t jerk quite as hard, her eyes settling where they were still closed. She didn’t wake as finally she took a shuddery, full-bodied breath, and then she was falling back into a calmer slumber.

When she fell still again, Oliver’s hand stopped, settling on the dog’s plopped-out belly, effectively cocooning her against him. Then it was his turn to take a deep breath, and slip back into a deep sleep.

Felicity bit her lip hard to keep from making the cooing noises she wanted to.

Chest constricting, she clenched her jaw to keep quiet, finally biting her lips together as she slowly lifted her phone. 

A couple swipes and she had her camera up. She took more than a few pictures of them, trying to get the best lighting, glad she’d gone the extra mile with her next gen camera because it caught every single painfully adorable angle as if the room wasn’t caught in a low glow dome. 

Neither Oliver nor Artie moved the entire time.

Perfect as the pictures were, though, none of them did the real thing justice.

Felicity shifted onto her side so she was facing them. She left her phone on the bed and, careful to keep her touch light, she swept her hand over Artie’s little face, and then brushed her fingers down Oliver’s temple. Artie simply fell deeper into sleep, totally safe and comfortable, but Oliver sighed, his brow twitching again as he turned into her touch.

She didn’t take her eyes off them, not even when they grew heavy. 

At some point she slipped her glasses off and set them down haphazardly somewhere behind her, but she kept the light on so she could drink in every precious bit of her world sleeping safe and sound next to her.

*

Oliver paused at the door to his suite of rooms.

He balanced the tray of food on one hand so he could open the door, but immediately froze when it started tipping precariously. He held his breath, readjusting his hold. There. Not wasting the opportunity, Oliver quickly twisted the knob open before grabbing the tray with both hands once again. Using his foot, he eased the door shut behind him, pushing just enough to get a snick.

And then he paused, listening.

Silence greeted him.

With a smile, he double checked the contents of the tray: her favorite pancakes, the cinnamon ones with cream cheese icing swirled through the middle, a bowl of berries, the overly-pulpy orange juice she preferred, coffee with cinnamon and a little creamer, utensils, and a tiny vase with a little bouquet of wildflowers from the garden. 

Exactly what he wanted to surprise her with on the morning of their six month anniversary.

Keeping his step light, Oliver padded into the bedroom. He knew Artemis was up here somewhere, having woken up with him, but only to go to the bathroom and eat before coming back up. 

Soft snores backed that up, making him smile. 

One definite thing his girls shared: they loved to sleep.

He tip-toed into the bedroom. 

The bed was as mussed as he’d left it, and on the far side he spotted a messy tuft of blonde hair, the bulk of the comforter hiding most of her from view. He didn’t see Artie. 

Oliver walked to his side of the bed, where he preferred to sleep - between Felicity and the door - stepping over the place on the floor where he used to make his pallet. It had been a long time since he’d done that, and he had to admit he slept better than he used to. Although that was mostly because of a woman and her dog barging into his life and shining light into the darkest places, bringing him out of the shadowy cell he had resigned himself to.

He no longer felt that and where before he would wake up with dread coating his every thought, he now looked forward to every single precious moment.

With her.

Chest swelling with emotion, Oliver set the tray on the edge of the huge mattress, making sure it wouldn’t fall over if a certain canine decided to get abruptly wild, and walked around the bed towards Felicity’s side.

He stopped mid-step at the sight that greeted him and he snorted out a laugh.

Felicity and Artie were both dead asleep, facing each other. 

Artie might still be considered a puppy, but she was growing by leaps and bounds, easily over thirty pounds already, and entirely huge next to his girlfriend where she had the dog wrapped up in her arms. Artie’s head was pillowed on Felicity’s chest, her little tongue sticking out in her sleep. It was so damn _cute_ that Oliver had to bite his own tongue to keep from reacting.

But the best part, really, was where her front legs were shoved up into Felicity’s face.

One paw was in her hair, but the other was pressed up against Felicity’s nose, and one of her nails catching on Felicity’s top lip, yanking it up, exposing her teeth and gums in a cockeyed look that nearly sent him to his knees to keep from laughing. She was breathing through her mouth to make up for Artie’s paw being up her nose, and the snores weren’t coming from Artie like he thought. 

They were Felicity’s.

He snaked his phone out of his pocket before they could wake up and snapped a quick picture - okay, fine, more like a couple dozen - before he did a little video. A particularly loud snore ripped through the air during the video, and Oliver couldn’t hide his laughter anymore.

It woke Artie first, who proceeded to stretch and completely shove her paws into Felicity’s face.

Felicity grumbled, her face screwing up as she twisted away. Oliver kept the video going as she woke up, knowing she was probably going to demand he delete it later, as well as knowing he would do no such thing. Artie yawned big and loud, and he shushed her with a sweep of his hand over her head as he settled onto the edge of the bed, the camera still on.

“Hey, sleepyhead,” Oliver whispered, leaning over to kiss Felicity’s forehead. She scrunched up under his ministrations, mumbling something incoherent, but she did press closer, her hand flopping around until she found his thigh. “Happy anniversary.”

Something akin to “Happy anniversary” came out of her.

“I have pancakes.”

“Pancakes?” Felicity repeated, eyes finally popping open. She gave him a sleepy smile. “Oh, my _hero_ … Wha… Oh my god, are you filming this? Give me that, give me…” Felicity grabbed for the phone, but she only managed to land in an uncoordinated mess on his lap as he yanked it out of the way. “Oliver!”

“You’re the gift that keeps on giving, of course I’m filming this,” Oliver told her. He laughed as she snorted at his words and proceeded to try and climb up his chest. Her fingers dug into his ribs and then his armpits and he jerked on a bark of laughter at the ticklish sensation. “Felicity!”

“I’m gonna do worse than that,” she warned, waking up even more, grabbing at his arm where he held it above their heads. Artie barked and Felicity added, “Help me, girl!”

The pitbull jumped into the fray and it was only the fact that Oliver slid off the edge of the bed and took Felicity and Artie with him that the bouncing tray of food didn’t fall right along with them.

After a tickling fest that ended in tangled sheets, tears of laughter, and dog drool, they finally sat down to eat where Oliver described in explicit detail how beautiful his girls are when they sleep.

(That ended with Felicity trying to get his phone again, but he got away before she could.)

*

“Sorry, baby girl, but there isn’t any room.”

Artie shouldn’t have been able to pout at her, but that’s exactly what she did. 

She stared at Felicity, her ears down, her eyes wide, her butt plopped on the floor right next to the couch. The very large, very plush, very _full_ couch where Felicity sat at one end, her feet on the coffee table, her laptop on the couch arm, and a blanket and Oliver’s head in her lap. The no-room-left was thanks to him being sprawled out on the rest of the cushions, lost in a nap.

Felicity stared at their dog who stared right back, waiting for her to scoot over and make room.

She pursed her lips to keep her face stern. “Artie, go lay down.”

Artie whined.

“Nope. Go lay down.”

The pitbull sighed. The dog turned her big boxy head to look at Oliver, then back at Felicity, then at the top of the couch, the other couch arm…

“Don’t even think about it… Artie…! _Artemis_!”

The last one came out in a hiss to keep from waking Oliver, but also to get the dog’s attention. It didn’t make a dent. She was as stubborn as Felicity, and it was no mystery that Felicity was a little more lackadaisical when it came to keeping the little bugger in line. Oliver was the one she really listened to, and it was one hundred percent because Felicity let her get away with too much. 

Which led to instances like _this_ where Artie walked right over to the middle of the couch and started climbing up on it.

“Artie!”

The dog just wagged her tail as she hopped up, climbing all over Oliver. Felicity’s jaw dropped as she reached over to push her off again, but before she could - and somehow with Oliver not waking at _all_ , which made Felicity wonder if this happened more than she was aware of - Artemis maneuvered her not-small dog body onto Oliver’s back and plopped down on him, propping her head on top of Oliver’s.

And that was that.

Now her lap was filled with two giant heads stacked together.

“Really?” Felicity asked her. 

Artie merely sighed, readjusted her paws slightly, keeping one tucked under her bulk and the other slipping out to curl around Oliver’s shoulder.

He still didn’t wake. 

At all.

“Really?” Felicity repeated as Artie closed her eyes and sighed again, settling in. “Hey, I’m talking to you, young lady.” She poked Artie’s nose. The dog lifted her head enough to offer her signature smile and then lick Felicity’s face before settling back on Oliver’s head. “This is ridiculous. This is completely ridiculous. Are you _his_ dog? Is that what this is?”

It didn’t bug her, because the answer was obvious. She was each of theirs, in her own little ways, and apparently this was a way that belonged to Oliver. 

Her fiance didn’t move at all. He kept sleeping, his arm still wrapped around Felicity’s lower back, his other tucked into his chest, his mouth starting to hang open the deeper he fell into his nap. 

Artie followed on his heels. 

The only problem this presented was Felicity now couldn’t reach her laptop very easily, at all, which meant no more work was going to get done.

And she didn’t have the heart to make them move.

Closing it down with a sigh, Felicity turned on the television. She found a movie, and time passed. She wasn’t sure how much time before their roommate Diggle walked by, glancing in,. He stopped dead in his tracks at the sight they made.

Felicity huffed out a giggle at his raised eyebrow, and grinned when he pulled out his phone.

He snapped several photos, a lot of them with Felicity making faces and pointing at both of them in various ways, all of which he sent to both Felicity and Oliver.

Oliver tried to apologize when he saw them, but it was hard to even pretend to be mad when he was so well-rested.

*

His fingers cramped, but he didn’t stop, not for a second.

Oliver rubbed her back, taking special care to pay attention to her lower back, her sides, and especially her hips, before migrating up her spine, aiming to press even harder as he massaged away her aches.

She had started the session out moaning and sighing and adjusting in time with his hands, but at some point she had fallen asleep. But he hadn’t stopped. He didn’t want to stop. Not when she’d finally found a position that was comfortable enough to sleep in, a pillow between her legs, her arms wrapped around another one, snug in a well of softness she more than deserved.

The only problem that eventually came up was his bladder needing attention.

When it became unbearable, he finally paused. He didn’t move right away, checking on his snoozing wife, but she didn’t seem to notice. Which was just fine by him. If he could get up, go to the bathroom, and get back to her to keep doing this until his hands fell off, then that’s what he was going to do. He wanted to keep her here as long as possible. With her due date right around the corner and her stomach so huge that she could barely find a comfortable spot anymore - much less get up and move around herself - he wanted the next few days to be as easy as he could make them.

“I’ll be right back,” he promised before rolling gingerly off the bed.

He patted Artemis on the head where she laid curled up at the foot of the mattress and disappeared into the bathroom.

When he came back and saw her still asleep, he grabbed her empty glass off the nightstand.

With a whispered, “Keep an eye on her,” to Artie, he jogged downstairs to refresh her water and get some for himself. He shook his hands out as he went, cracking his knuckles, but the ache was both worth it and nothing compared to what he’d endured in his life before he’d met her. To what he would endure for her. Always.

A couple glasses in-hand, he jogged back up the stairs, not caring when water sloshed out a bit.

Closing the door to their suite of rooms behind him, he walked into the bedroom.

The softest smile graced his lips when he saw what waited for him.

Artie had done exactly what he had asked of her. She’d migrated across the bed and now laid curled around Felicity’s swollen belly, her head resting next to Felicity’s chest, her eyes closed again in a gentle nap.

His chest ached and the telltale burn of tears nearly had him rolling his eyes at himself.

Stacking the glasses as best he could in one hand, he pulled his phone out with the other and took some pictures. As precarious as it was, it turned out to be for the best because the second he took another step towards them, Artie’s eyes shot open, nailing him in place.

“It’s just me,” he promised.

Artemis let out a sigh, but she didn’t move as Oliver set the glasses down and then got back into his spot behind Felicity. She didn’t budge an inch, totally gone, and neither did Oliver or Artemis where they cocooned her and the baby in, Artie protecting her front, Oliver at her back.

Just like always.

Like forever.

*

Felicity opened the bathroom door.

A wall of steam billowed out from behind her and she took a deep breath.

She felt like a new human being. Twenty minutes of completely uninterrupted time - washing her hair, conditioning it, shaving, washing her face, moisturizing, not wearing something covered in spit-up or drool or coffee stains…

New. Human. Being.

She was still tired. No, that wasn’t entirely accurate. Exhaustion dogged her every move, lived in her bones, turned every single atom into quicksand until it was all she could do to stay standing under the heat pouring over her in the shower. She might’ve even stolen a couple of minutes taking a faux-nap against the bathroom wall, but only a couple… here and there… but it only added to the shiny new human being veneer she wore. 

“Oh god, I feel so much better,” she said, pushed wet hair off her forehead before readjusting the towel wrapped around her chest. “Who knew a couple months ago that a handful of minutes would make me feel…”

Her words trailed off when she saw the pile on the bed.

Felicity’s hand landed on her lips, and she wasn’t sure if it was to stop a sound of heartfelt awe, or to keep herself from laughing out loud. He was alone with the girls for all of a couple minutes, and he was already knocked out. 

Although he somehow managed to get them both to sleep _with_ him.

Lucky jerk, she lamented silently.

Oliver laid in the middle of the mattress, one arm full of a snoring dog sprawled out on her side, her paw tossed over his chest, her face pressed into his neck, and in his other arm was the bright bundle of their daughter swaddled in purple, tucked perfectly into the crook of his arm. Oliver himself looked like he’d tried to keep his eyes open, but at some point he’d drifted off, too, his mouth hanging open. The kicker? Artie’s paw seemed to be holding Mia’s little hand, forming a perfect little trio.

Tears filled her eyes and overflowed. 

She made a face at herself - _stupid hormones_ \- and wiped them away as she darted over to the nightstand where her phone sat. She got so many pictures she knew it was borderline stupid, but she didn’t care.

They didn’t budge.

Felicity quickly changed into the first thing she found in the closet - turned out later it was a pair of Oliver’s swim trunks and one of her torn tank tops that she kept telling herself she would use for cleaning rags someday. She barely noticed as she knotted the shorts - _trunks_ \- as tight as she could get them because they kept slipping down her hips and headed towards her family. 

She crawled into the bed on Mia’s side. 

Artie shifted, and then Oliver did, and then Mia.

“Shh,” Felicity quickly whispered. She settled down next to them, pressing Mia in nice and snug and reaching over to Artie, wrapping them up. “Shh, let’s sleep, let’s sleep…”

Barely a second later, she was knocked out alongside them.

*

Oliver woke with a crick in his neck.

Face scrunching, he pried an eye open. He tried to understand why he’d started out so nice and comfortable when he went to sleep only to now be shoved halfway up against the headboard, arms screwed up awkwardly underneath him, his butt hanging off the bed - so close to the edge that with one wrong breath he’d be on the ground - and something stringy in his mouth.

The answer was right in front of him.

Rather, all three answers, laid out diagonally across the mattress for some god awful reason.

His daughter laid sprawled out on her back next to him, her head turned away from him, leaving a ragged mess of long blonde tangles in his face. Next to her was Felicity, in the exact same position, her long blonde hair shoved up against Mia’s face, and then there was Artie, also on her back, her head faced away, one of her paws stuck straight up in the air.

Oliver groaned.

Clearly a little human had snuck into their room, and like usual, she left the door open, which meant that Artie had followed her, hopping up onto the bed with them. 

He wanted to be annoyed. His body was definitely annoyed. He grimaced as he adjusted in the tiny corner he had left, wondering why he still managed to be confused as to how he migrated up here in the first place. All three of them were cuddlers, and when they swarmed him, he got overheated and kept scooting away until all that was left was falling off the bed. Which he never did. He always ultimately surrendered, asleep or not. The problem was when he was sleeping, he didn’t have any control over the position he ended up in.

Still, as he slowly sat up, careful not to move the mattress, he couldn’t help but smile.

All three of them were in nearly identical positions across the bed.

He shook his head as he managed to find a spot without waking them. Leaning back against the headboard, he scrubbed his face before pushing his hand up into his hair. He sighed, letting himself sink into a half-awake state as he stared at them.

Oliver’s smile widened.

It didn’t matter what state he woke up in. It did annoy him, more than usual considering his neck was a mess now, and his back felt torqued, and numbness danced down the edges of some of his fingers. 

But if this was what waited for him?

Absolutely worth it.

They slept on as Oliver grabbed his phone and took a couple pictures. They were perfect, every single one of them, and with each one he took, his annoyance drifted into something more akin to joyful acceptance.

This was life, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

*

“Oliver. _Oliver_. C’mere.”

“Hmm?”

Oliver ambled over.

Felicity’s mouth went dry as she took him in, as she had every other time he so much as breathed recently. Tools were hooked to his belt, which was held up by suspenders, something that was… _distracting_. What had started out as a way to keep his hands busy several years ago had turned into a full-blown hobby. It had evolved from fixing a few things around the Manor to remodeling entire rooms. The fact that he wore rugged jeans that had definitely seen better days and a tight white t-shirt that was often damp with sweat only added to the illusion. Heavy steel-toed boots capped the image off, along with newly-shortened hair and slightly shaggy stubble.

She liked to think she was above her body’s baser impulses, but that was a dirty lie.

And he knew it.

But not the full extent, she thought, her hormones zinging a little more wildly.

He smirked at her as he sidled up next to her. “Yes, honey?”

“I have… many things to say about… all this,” Felicity said, waving her hands at him. He wiggled his eyebrows as his hands found her hips. She bit her bottom lip - oh yeah, she had _many_ things to say… “But first,” she said, grabbing one of his hands and tugging him behind her. “You have to see this.”

“What?” 

“Shh, shh, shh,” Felicity whispered as she pulled him up to the new playroom he had finished crafting a couple months ago. She inched the door open and pointed inside. “Look.”

Along with everything a four year old could possibly want, Oliver had built a bed in there for Artie, because her new favorite human had long ago transitioned from switching between her and Oliver to Mia. The ridiculously fluffy monstrosity of a dog bed was flannel and softer than their bed, Felicity swore up and down. And obviously their daughter agreed, because she was curled up on it along with their dog, both of them sound asleep. Mia slept on her stomach, her head partially pillowed on Artie’s paws, and Artemis herself had her head resting delicately on Mia’s back.

“Oh my god,” Oliver whispered, and the quiet, loving grin on his face nearly undid her.

“I know.”

Oliver pulled out his phone and took a quick picture. The grin on his face didn’t go away as he made it his new home screen and showed it to her with pride shining in his eyes. 

Felicity found herself just as entranced with him as she was with her girls. His wonder at the life they had built together never ceased to amaze her. She got it. Completely. It still sometimes felt impossible that they had ended up here, after everything. But their world was _solid_ , and the threads that kept them together were as much from their love for each other as from Artemis being there with them through all of it.

And it was about to get better.

“They’re perfect,” he whispered, staring at his phone before looking back at the real thing.

“Yes,” Felicity agreed, her eyes never leaving him. “Perfect. C’mere…”

He let her drag him away, even as he kept his eye on their sleeping dog and child as long as he could. When they were clear enough that they could speak normally, Oliver’s hands anchored on her hips. “What is it?”

“I have some news.”

“Oh?”

“You know the room you’re working on? I know we planned on it being a new guestroom to make room for the new rec room you wanted to add, but I think we need something else right now.”

Oliver furrowed his brow in question.

“A new nursery.”

It took a second to click, but then it did. Pure glee transformed his face. “You…? Are you…?”

“I’m pregnant,” Felicity said, her smile matching his. “I’ve been feeling funky for a second, and I missed my period, but that isn’t new since getting the Smoak Tech corp up and running has been the definition of stressful. Still, the funkiness, so I got a test, and… Artie’s gonna have a new sleeping bundle to watch over here pretty soon.”

“Oh my god,” Oliver gushed, wrapping her up and spinning her in a quick circle. “Oh my god!”

Felicity laughed.

Yeah, life was pretty darn perfect.  


**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Reviews literally feed the soul and muse!
> 
> [Original Tumblr Post](https://dust2dust34.tumblr.com/post/615387401439920128/settle-down-with-me-and-ill-be-your-safety)


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